Our Foundational Family Protection Package

Every plan we design is highly customized to meet unique family situations, assets, and personal goals and values. This makes it impossible to detail your particular plan in advance. However, we can outline what is included in a “typical” plan package. Over the years, our clients have told us this “package” provides a helpful starting point to discuss their personalized plan.

While it is customary to describe an estate plan as a list of documents, when you retain Geisler Patterson Law Firm, you are not just “buying paper.” You are choosing a counselor who will design a plan that you and your family will benefit from while you are alive and well, and after you are gone. A counselor, that is, who can help you plan for whatever the future may hold; be there for you and your loved ones during times of crisis; and help ensure your lasting legacy.

Our family protection package typically includes:

• Personalized consultations with Martha Patterson, so that all your questions are answered to your satisfaction. Martha explores your unique concerns and goals, and crafts a solution that addresses every single one of them.
• A Revocable Living Trust Agreement, which eliminates probate and the need for conservatorship proceedings for all assets transferred into the trust. This trust directs the disposition of your assets to your chosen beneficiaries.
• For married couples who want to minimize estate tax or provide asset protection to one other, our Credit Shelter Trusts can do more than just meet the minimum legal requirements to reduce tax. They can also ensure your children and spouse will be protected from lawsuits and unintentional disinheritance (which often happens in remarriages).
• A Common Trust and/or Separate Trusts to ensure that your assets are protected for your children. These trusts may include asset protection from lawsuits or children’s divorces. We can even design trust solutions that preserve assets for generations.
• A year’s membership in our Maintenance Program, which provides legal and personal updates, at no additional fee, on a regular basis.
• Wills that ensure all property is transferred to the chosen beneficiaries, even if an asset is not transferred to your Revocable Living Trust during your lifetime.
• Attorney-drafted and Statutory Durable Powers of Attorney that let your spouse or another trusted individual sign documents and handle financial matters for you in the event of mental incapacity.
• Advance health care directive(s), which give instructions to physicians and family members about the level of medical treatment (such as life support systems) you desire.
• A five-year membership in DocuBank, an innovative service that ensures your healthcare directives are always available whenever and wherever they are needed.
• A deed transferring your home into your Revocable Living Trust, preliminary change of ownership form to avoid tax reassessment of your property, and letters to your homeowner’s and title insurance companies to ensure that your trust is covered under your policies.
• Community property agreements can classify all property as community, to ensure complete avoidance of capital gains tax upon the death of one spouse.
• Memorial Instruction forms to express your preferences and protect your family from over-spending or suffering from uncertainty about your wishes after your death.